


Memories and Misfortune

by Shimmer712



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcoholism, Depression, Grief, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of Violence, Multi, Neglect, Poor Coping Methods, canon character death, mentions of abuse, parental abandonment, qrow hates his life, self hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shimmer712/pseuds/Shimmer712
Summary: Qrow looks back at his life and remembers how it used to be and how things went wrong after it seemed like it was getting good.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Raven Branwen, Qrow Branwen & Raven Branwen & Summer Rose & Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen & Ruby Rose, Qrow Branwen & Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen & Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen & Yang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Comments: 12
Kudos: 23





	Memories and Misfortune

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SykoShadowRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SykoShadowRose/gifts).



It would seem like fate had planned for Qrow to have a hard life the moment he was born. Or rather, about half an hour before he was born.

Raven had been a fighter from birth, the Tribe would say. She had fought during her own delivery, which lead to their mother being injured to the point would not survive birthing Qrow and the delivery would be difficult enough that Qrow’s aura had unlocked as he was being born. It was tragic that the woman had not survived but the Tribe had the growth of strong warriors to look forward to in exchange.

The narrative changed once Qrow’s semblance was known. It stopped being Raven mortally wounding her mother in a display of her future as a powerful fighter, switching to Qrow being a cursed child. After all, if his mother hadn’t birthed him, she may have survived the damage Raven had done. Qrow murdered his mother with his existence.

Qrow vaguely remembered being upset with this change of how it went. After all, his semblance wasn’t even active when Raven hurt their mother, so why is he being blamed for what she did?

Thankfully, Raven’s semblance had shown itself a bit before they realized he was an omen of misfortune. So they didn’t kill him or leave him to die.

Instead, they would take Raven with them on raids, and if they bit off more than they could chew, she would use her portals to provide them with an escape to wherever Qrow was. So Qrow had some use to make it worth keeping him around.

His survival depended on Raven. “You need me,” she said. “No one else would want a bad luck charm. But with me, you can actually be useful.”

Raven was the only one who was willing to spend time with him without insulting or hurting him. That’s not to say she didn’t. She would call him soft, foolish and cuff him around the head but not all the time. Anytime the rest of the Tribe saw him, they would snap and snarl at the best, lash out at him at the worst. They would say he was the reason several Tribe children died of infections and illness, that they lack medicines.

So Qrow spent most of his time wandering the wilds. He figured out how to forage for himself, a necessity since the Tribe didn’t like to feed him. Raven would bring him his meals which were always smaller than everyone else’s, the Tribe saying that others needed more, they were more important. He figured out what plants could soothe aches, how to make herbal remedies (something the Tribe encouraged and provided books for since it meant they had less to do with him).

And he learnt how to defend himself against Grimm.

Qrow was far better at killing Grimm than Raven. How could he not be, when so much of his time was spent fending for himself out where Grimm are constantly stalking for prey? He learnt through experience how to engaged an opponent that fought with fangs and claws, that had inhuman appendages and movements, how to fight the dark monsters.

In comparison, Raven was for better at fighting other people. After all, she had been taken on raids since she was little. She learnt through experience where to aim to cripple or kill, how to block or deflect other weapons, how other people fight.

Qrow didn’t really like other people. Other people, he found, tended to _hurt_. Hurt him at least. So he let Raven do the interacting for him when it came to others.

And that’s how they grew up, Raven spending plenty of time in the camp, learning how the Tribe runs, on raids learning how to kill and with Qrow out in the wilds.

Qrow was rarely in the camp. Unlike Raven, he didn’t get three decent sized meals a day. He got small bits of food and what he managed to forage and hunt. His staying away from camp was reinforced when one bandit pinned him down and used their fire-dust knife to carve the words “misfortune” and “bad luck charm” into his back, the wound cauterized and burned into his flesh. He did teach himself to sneak around silently, making it harder for the Tribe to find him.

Raven found on a raid a dust-blade sword that she claimed for herself and named Omen. It was a bit too big for her but she was determined to make it hers.

Qrow, in his wanderings, encountered a blacksmith who helped him forge his own weapon in exchange for various errands. In the same village, he met a sweet old lady who gave him candy and told him stories. One day, she showed him what she called her treasure box. Inside, where various pieces of jewelry and even some gems. Smiling, she picked out some rings and placed them in his hand.

“You have a strong heart, little bird,” she murmured softly, closing his fingers around the rings. “Never forget that. Many people believe that to be strong is to be hard. Too few realize how much strength it takes to keep some softness in a cruel world.”

Sometime after Harbinger was finished, the blacksmith and her village, the old woman's village was destroyed by the Tribe. Qrow snuck the treasure box out of its hiding place and moved it elsewhere. He grew more distant from the Tribe and spent even less time with them, instead figuring out how to use Harbinger in it’s different forms. He also used his practiced stealth to sneak into the camp swipe things. Sometimes, possessions of the particular volatile members would be find among the belongings of some of the nastier, crueler members. Petty and spiteful, perhaps but it did give Qrow some satisfaction. He also passed any secrets he find out to Raven, who used them to entice people into doing things her way, making herself appear more knowledgeable than others.

He did not ask Raven where she had gotten her necklace, the one he had seen around the old woman’s neck. He made no mention of it or her to Raven. But he sometimes looked at his twin and wondered.

Then it was decided. The twins would got to Beacon. Vacuo and Shade Academy was too far away, the furthest school from Anima. Atlas was too stuffy and probably wouldn’t accept a couple of bandit brats. Haven was too close, any students there would probably stay in Anima, which meant future local huntsmen learning how they fight. But Beacon was likely to accept them and was far enough that there was smaller chance of a classmate getting to know their way of fighting and then using that against them when they fought for the Tribe. Raven would kill any huntsmen and Grimm they encountered on raids and Qrow would kill any he encountered in the wilds tracking the Tribe.

As they traveled across Anima and on the ship, Raven kept telling regardless of how much others hated his semblance and the trouble it caused them, he was still useful to her and her little brother. She wouldn’t abandon him no matter how cursed he was to others.

—————————

Beacon had way too many people, in Qrow’s opinion. He slouched against the wall at the back of the airship, eyeing the others. There were some kids talking about about how they went to Signal or one of the other combat schools. There was one kid bragging about having top grades. He wondered how much use the training they got there would be.

“Ugh,” Raven muttered next to him. “Bunch of spoiled brats.” Qrow just shrugged noncommittally.

At that moment, a screen lit up, showing the image of a stern looking man who gave them a basic “welcome to Beacon” spiel. Nothing important.

Qrow directed his gaze outside the window to the school underneath them. He could already see some ways he sneak into rooms. Wait, don’t the Kingdoms have cameras? He would have to scout out where any in the school are.

Then he can sneak around all he wants! Qrow grinned happily to himself, before excited shouts reminded him of all the people present. He pulled a face.

Well, it’s not like they’ll all be crowded together for long, right?

——————————

He spoke too soon.

They were all crowded into a training room to spend the night together.

“Soo...” a guy with dark eyes and brown hair shuffled to them. “You two look a lot alike. Twins?”

“Very observant,” Raven sneered. Nearby, a blond just looked at the stranger, snorted and turned away. Clearly wasn’t too impressive by Mr Obvious. Point in his favor. Not that it meant much, but it was more than what everyone else who wasn’t Raven had so far.

Qrow opted to tune out Mr Obvious in favor of surveying the rest of the room. Blond Snorter had struck up conservation with a group of kids, occasionally peeking back at them for some reason. The Signal Bragger was sprawled out on his bedding, talking to the Signal kids he had been talking to on the airship. Other kids were gossiping, messing around on their scrolls or settling down for bed.

Qrow frowned. He and Raven didn’t really have much on their scrolls, having purchased them shortly after arriving in Vale to fit in better. Just the basics for communications. But some of the kids were playing games and doing art and shit.

Qrow pursed his lips as he pulled out his scroll. He would have to talk to Raven and convince her to download some crap onto her scroll.

Flicking through the screen, he eyed the apps until he saw a few that looked interesting enough. Or at least less of a waste than the others. One for riddles, one for logic puzzles, some games and a few word problem apps. That should do and make his scroll look more normal.

He curled up on his mat, messing around with one of his new apps as he watched the people - his soon-to-be classmates - around him.

Nearby, Raven had finally scared off Mr Obvious without being too brutal or biting and flopped onto her mat. “I’m going to sleep,” she told him, setting an alarm.

“Okay,” Qrow nodded as she curled up and closed her eyes. He played around with his apps a bit longer, so anyone who looked wouldn’t realized they had never been used and then went to settle down to sleep.

Sleeping on a mat with actual blankets was strange. Qrow was more used to sleeping on the ground or in a tree with only his clothes. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep despite the unfamiliarity of the sleeping situation.

——————————

Headmaster Ozpin stood in front of them, the cliff and the forest below stretching out behind him. Qrow wondered exactly what this invitation exam consisted of. Did they have to climb down the cliff? He could do that. He had done it plenty of times back in Anima. Maybe they had to race or something?

Ozpin was droning on about how important your teammates would be. Boring. Qrow would be teaming up with Raven, that much had been made clear. Raven just didn’t trust anyone else with him.

“Also, your partner will be whoever you first make eye contact with after landing,” Ozpin added.

“ _What_?” Raven hissed under her breath next to him. Qrow swallowed.

While Ozpin had revealed how partners were decided, he hadn’t told them how teams were. What if he and Raven ended up on different teams and he had no one willing to tolerate him despite his semblance?

Qrow listened to Ozpin explain that they needed to get a relic for each pair and come back to where they currently were as he fretted, aware of Raven grumbling next to him.

Finally, Ozpin stopped his explanation and told them to take position. Wary, Qrow slipped into a stance.

 _Oh!_ He spotted several students, further down the row being catapulted into the air. So that was how they were getting down. Qrow shifted into a different position and waited, fretting. What should he do for a landing strategy? Was it one of the things taught at the combat schools? As the launching drew closer, he realized Raven was still muttering to herself.

“Uh, sis? We’r about to be flung into the air so you might wanna get ready,” he whispered to her. Raven’s head snapped up and she spotted the next student to fly into the air, quickly moving to brace herself just before Qrow went flying.

It didn’t take him long to realize the sensation was familiar.

“It’s kinda like the time that geist sent me flying,” he muttered. “Or maybe when that berringal threw me off a cliff. Or... wow, I’ve been sent flying a lot now that I think about it...” And he had plenty of practice in landing safely at this point.

Standing safely on a tree branch, Qrow peered around for Raven. Apparently her launch pad had sent her flying off away from him. As she vanished below the tree line, Qrow could the trees moving and in some cases vanishing as she crashed into them.

Qrow blinked. “Why didn’t she land?” he wondered. “I mean, I managed it thanks to all the times I’ve been sent flying and she...wait, has she ever been sent flying?” Qrow racked his mind for any mentions of Raven being sent flying. There was the time she was knocked off a roof during a raid. No, wait, she landed on Braun, which knocked him into...something which led to him getting that scar on his face. Shit tried to blame Qrow for that too, never mind that he was nowhere near the village.

At any rate, it didn’t seem like Raven had any experience with needing to land safely after flying through the air.

“Well, she’s got enough aura to tank that and get up fine,” Qrow mumbled. After all, he always got up fine when he was sent flying and didn’t manage to land safely. And everyone in the Tribe knows Raven is better so there’s no way she isn’t fine.

Qrow started moving silently through the tree tops towards where Raven had vanished. People tended to ignore anything above them so it was a good way to avoid eye contact until he met up with Raven.

Only things did not go according to plan.

Qrow watched his sister stare at the white caped girl. How did she get Raven as her partner? Why did Raven let her make eye contact? This wasn’t what they had planned!

Behind the girl, Qrow slipped into view and shrugged helpless at his sister before slipping off. If he had to partner with someone else, he better go find one of the better options out there.

Some of the candidates were decidedly unimpressive.

Qrow watched as one guy ran screaming from a couple of Beowolves. He was a hard _no_. There weren’t even that many of the Grimm.

Qrow moved silently through the woods, eyeing everyone he saw, following them for a bit before deciding he wasn’t making eye contact then slipping off.

Then he landed eyes on the Blond Snorter just as he punched an Ursa back several feet.

Qrow settled in his current perch and watched the blond brawl with the two Ursa. One of the bear-like Grimm got a foot connecting with it’s face _hard_. Didn’t seem to like that, going by the vicious snarl it gave.

After watching the fight for a bit longer, Qrow decided this guy was probably one of the better options. At least, he was showing enough skill that Raven would agree he wasn’t a total waste.

Pulling out Harbinger, Qrow moved into a position where he would be easily seen and quickly shot the two Ursas. Blond Snorter quickly snapped his head around to look for shooter, eyes landing on Qrow.

“Oh. Hey! I guess we’re partners now,” he waved awkwardly as Qrow dropped to the ground and approached.

“I guess,” Qrow nodded back. They stood in silence for a few moments.

“So, my name is Taiyang Xiao Long,” the blond introduced himself. “Call me Tai, everyone else does.”

“Qrow Branwen,” Qrow muttered in return. Should he say something else? Raven was the one who normally talked to people, not him.

“Let’s see if we can find those relics, shall we?” Tai said cheerfully. He clapped Qrow on the shoulder. “Ozpin said they would be in some ruins.”

Qrow nodded and decided to look around for some idea of where to go.

“...Why are you climbing a tree?”

Qrow blinked down at his new partner. “Seeing if I can see the ruins or places they might be,” he answered. Breaks in the tree line could be clearings in which the ruins reside in. Or it could be a lake or something. Finding those and roads were the main ways the tribe found settlements. People need space for their buildings and they needed a water supply so locating clear spaces or finding or following rivers were efficient means to locating places to raid.

“What about a river?” Tai suggested. “A ruin means it was a place with people and they would need water, right? I doubt they would want to go too far for it.”

“Animals need water too, so if we find a game trail, we can probably follow it to a water source,” Qrow agreed. It would seem his partner was reasonably sensible. He pointed. “I can see a ruin over there, at the base of a cliff.”

“...How do we know if it’s the right one?” Tai asked. Which was a good question.

“It’s probably not,” Qrow admitted. “But buildings aren’t usually built isolated so we can probably pick up a direction to where other ruins might be and go from there.”

Tai shrugged. “Works for me. Let’s go.”

The two made their way to the ruins Qrow had seen which was set up in a ravine. They looked at it then at the path leading from the bridge, lined by two rows of a stone held up by stone pillars.

“There’s a clear trail leading from it into the forest,” Tai noted. “Good lead for other ruins?”

“I think it was a temple tower or something,” Qrow said. “So odds are it had supplies brought in rather than produced here so yeah, good as lead as any.”

The two followed the path to a upwards slope.

“There are still slabs of stone going uphill,” Tai noted. “So the trail probably went that way.” He started up the slope, Qrow following.

At the top, they peered down a slight decline to see another stretch of forest. There was a clear path, with growth more sparse and slabs of stone scattered here and there.

“Follow the trail?”

“Follow the trail.”

A small group of Creeps came out of the trees and made a line for the boys. They were easy enough to deal with. However, Tai’s ankle rolled and he stumbled.

“Ah,” the blond hissed as he caught himself. He got back on his feet and massaged his wrist, wincing. “I landed badly there. Ow.”

Qrow cringed, hunching his shoulders and shrinking in on himself. His semblance was screwing things up already?

“Let’s just find the relics and get out of here,” he muttered.

Blinking at his suddenly sullen partner, Tai nodded. “Yeah, good idea,” he agreed, eying Qrow curiously, wondering what brought on the change in mood.

The pair continued on in silence of several minutes.

“Qrow? Did you just munch on some flower buds?”

Blinking, Qrow turned to him, swallowing the mouthful of petals. “They’re perfectly safe to eat,” he pointed out.

“Oookay,” Tai said slowly, a bit confused as to why the other was chomping on local flora. They had been given breakfast earlier.

Following the path, Qrow snagging bites to eat when he saw something edible, the pair found a set of ruins with a series of small pillars, each with an object on it.

“Are those bookends?” Tai blinked. Qrow shrugged. Any books the Tribe had were kept in boxes when not being read. So bookends? Not really a thing he had run into before.

“Which one do we take?” He asked the blond. “Or do we take a pair? Some are missing one half already,” he mused, eyeing the objects. “And we were told relic, singular. Does a set of bookends count as one or two?”

Tai shrugged. “Generally, a set of bookends are considered more than one thing, so I guess we only take one,” he answered, reaching out to take one with a ocean-and-cliff-side-castle motif.

Qrow shrugged. “Alright then. Time to go back?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Tai answered, tucking the bookend into a pocket and turning to go.

On the way back, it started to rain.

“Maybe we should walk under the trees for a bit,” Tai suggested. “It might reduce how much rain we get hit by.”

Lightning flashed followed by booming thunder. “Or the trees could act as lightning rods and get us fried,” Qrow deadpanned. Being near a tree when it gets hit by lightning sucked. Actually being hit by lightning sucked even more. “Just stay away from the tallest things around and stay low.”

Tai eyed the trees. “You know, I think there are some taller trees further back so it should probably be safe to go under these ones?”

“...Fine.” Qrow knew from experience he had enough aura to survive lightning and he was going to assume Tai did too.

They were soaked by the time they got back. Climbing back up the cliff in the rain was annoying but they managed despite the water making the rock slick.

Turns Raven and the girl in the white cape got the match to their bookend. They were a team.

Qrow felt his knees buckle with relief. He had one teammate he could count on to not throw him away, to have some use for him despite his semblance.

White Cape girl, Summer was named team leader.

Raven didn’t look to happy about that. She had planned on being the Tribe’s leader at some point and being team leader would give her some experience in leading. Qrow didn’t see what difference it made. She had already led some raids and surely being the team leader wouldn’t be too different. It wouldn’t be like running tribe, would it?

Summer was a brat at times but she was sharp. Like Tai, she had initially been confused by his tendency to munch on things throughout the day. Then she had noted that he didn't eat as much as everyone else at meals.

“Why don’t you eat more with the rest of us?” she asked one day.

Qrow stared at her, chewing on a bread roll he had pocketed at lunch earlier. He swallowed, shook his head and looked at her. “What?”

“At meals, when the rest of us eat, you only eat a little bit and then you munch on things through out the day,” she commented. She frowned at him “Also, have you ever slept in your bed? When I wake up at night, you always seem to be sleeping in the tree outside our window.”

Qrow blinked, not sure what to say. He ate enough to feel full at meals but he couldn’t remember a time when the Tribe had fed him full meals so until he had learnt to forage, hunger pangs had been a constant for him. He was used to eating bits throughout the day. He had tried to eat a bit more at meals, to seem more normal but he had just started to feel sick so he stopped. And the bed felt too soft, too strange. He had spent years sleeping in trees and the like, staying away from the camp and Tribe so why not sleep in a tree if it was there?

“Qrow?” Summer tilted her head at his lack of answer. Qrow shifted uneasily, not sure what to say.

“Qrow’s never eaten much at meals and usually feeds himself through the day,” Raven stepped in to cover for him. “And he’s been sleeping in trees for ages. A bed probably seems strange to him.”

“...I see,” Summer said, her facial expression unreadable but there was something in her eyes that was... calculating. As though she had been handed several pieces of a puzzle and was working out how they fit together. And was seeing something she didn’t like.

(Later, Qrow would learn she was wondering why the same didn’t apply to Raven, the possible reasons for the differences between the twins and not liking the possible answers she was getting.)

(Learning about the scars on his back only made her heart grow harder towards the people who had raised the twins.)

Summer started keeping snacks with her and worked on gradually increasing Qrow’s food intake at meals until he was having full meals with the rest of them while slowly getting him to spend more time in his bed so he got used to it. Tai had happily backed her up. Raven, frowning, had followed suit but cautioned Qrow to be careful and to keep his ability to forage well practiced for when they went back to the tribe.

That was easy enough to do. Qrow had simply offered to teach the rest of the team how to forage, for when they were on missions in the wilds.

Summer had looked questioningly at Raven when she had joined in the lesson, learning along with them. But she offered no remarks.

Tai had pranked Qrow with a skirt on their first day of class, and Qrow, not wanting to stand out, had fallen for it. Qrow was irritated that Tai had apparently tried to humiliate him by exploiting a lack of knowledge of how fashion works in the kingdoms but he wasn’t too embarrassed. He had often wound up sharing clothes with Raven since the tribe didn’t also make sure to get him clothes so wearing skirts and dresses weren’t a strange concept to him. He preferred pants because skirts also felt a bit cold. Although that may have been because of Raven preferring short skirts.

Raven had talked to Tai and came back, an irked look on her face, telling Qrow Tai had done it to get her attention. Qrow wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work but just shrugged and accepted her explanation.

Summer and Tai didn’t seem to be content with letting Raven be the spokesperson for the twins and went out of their way to make sure Qrow spoke up instead of just letting Raven talk for the both of them. Qrow wasn’t sure why. No one had cared about what he thought before and Raven made sure he wasn’t left out. But he gradually grew used to having people wanting his opinion.

Raven and Qrow tended to wipe the floor with their opponents in training, especially Raven. She was used to fighting people after all. For some reason, Raven started out closer to their classmate’s level when it came to fighting Grimm, even though she had encountered Grimm while on raids with tribe. Yeah, she always had the tribe with and was never facing them alone like Qrow but surely that didn’t make much difference, did it?

Tai and Raven became a thing. People seemed to expect Qrow and Summer to follow suit but Qrow wasn’t sure. He liked girls, the idea of a girl didn’t turn him off or anything. But while he could see Summer as attractive and see why someone would want to date her, that didn’t seem to click as wanting to date her. He adored her. He just wasn’t in love with her.

Besides, Qrow sometimes wondered if she was sorta part of the thing Tai and Raven had going on. It wasn’t really his business but sometimes, he got the impression Tai and Raven weren’t exclusively monogamous.

Not that he was getting involved if they _were_ poly. Raven was his _twin_ , for crying out loud.

Second year, Ozpin recruited the twins for an organisation against a woman called Salem, who had influence over Grimm. He also revealed his own form of immortality, his eternal reincarnation. Qrow wondered about Salem, if she was immortal too. But Oz said he could be destroyed. So why wouldn’t the same apply to her? And Oz had to have a plan right? He wouldn’t pull people in, would give away _magic_ if he didn’t have an idea of what to do, right?

The magic, the ability to fly...That was _incredible_! It had felt strange, the magic sinking into his flesh, his bones, his _essence_ but gradually, it stopped feeling strange. It started feeling right, like he had been given back a piece of himself he didn’t even know was missing. Every chance he got, he slipped off to fly.

For some reason, Raven didn’t. She admitted it was useful but she didn’t seem so enthralled by flight like him. For some reason, she seemed to almost resent it. And Ozpin. She didn’t seem to like him talking to Qrow at all. Which Qrow didn’t understand. Oz was always willing to advise and support. In some ways, he treated Qrow the way their father treated Raven. Minus the bandit stuff, of course. She seem especially peeved when Oz complimented Qrow’s ability to sneak around unnoticed, how quickly he was managing to learn some minor hacking and how he was managing to ferret out pieces of information and put them together. She didn’t seem to care for the fact Qrow was able to do some good in the older man’s eyes.

The home STRQ made for themselves on Patch after graduation was nice. Qrow wasn’t sure why Summer had her own room, he saw her slipping into or from Tai and Raven’s room plenty of times, and sometimes, her clothes (or lack of them) made it clear what the three were up to.

Qrow had no interest in joining in. And was glad that some random pervert at Beacon had suggested all four of them get together so Qrow could explain that Raven was his sister and if she was making out with their teammates, he wasn’t and he certainly wasn’t going to make out with her. It might Tai and Summer stopped looking vaguely guilty, probably over him being left out. It also meant they knew he knew and stopped trying to hide it from him.

Qrow wound up having to do some missions for Ozpin solo. Raven wasn’t able to missions for a while. But Qrow didn’t mind. Especially after Yang was born. As far as he was concerned, the little firecracker was worth all the difficulty and scrapes. Although Raven had been insistent on getting several medical supplies. Just in case

Yang was adorable. Tai was wrapped completely around her finger, constantly making ridiculous baby sounds at her. Summer was constantly cooing at her. It was amazing how the baby had the adults wrapped around her finger.

Then things changed.

Tai and Summer were at the store getting groceries. Qrow was sitting with Yang in her playpen, the little blonde crawling around, picking up toys and showing them to him, babbling happily.

Qrow could hear Raven upstairs. She was in her room, messing with her drawers and cupboards from the sounds of it. Qrow ignored her noise in favor of focusing on his niece, smiling and cooing at her. Yang seemed to love the attention she was getting.

Qrow blinked and glanced at ceiling when Raven’s sounds moved to his room. What was his sister doing in there?

Yang plopped a toy dog onto his knee, drawing his attention back.

Raven eventually came downstairs, two bags packed up. She placed one bag on the table and re-positioned the other over her shoulder.

“Let’s go,” she said. “I’ve packed for you.” She gestured to the bag on the table.

Qrow blinked at her. “What?” he asked, baffled.

Raven rolled her eyes. “We’ve waited long enough. It’s time to go home to the Tribe,” she explained.

“Go back?” Qrow blinked. “But, what about all this?” Qrow gestured to the room. “What about Yang? The tribe doesn’t have easy access to medicines,” he reminded her.

Raven huffed, as if he was being unreasonable. “She’ll be fine with her toys until Tai and Summer get back,” she said.

“You mean just leave her?” Qrow stared at his sister.

Raven shrugged. “You said it yourself. A lot of the kids in the Tribe don’t live to grow. Tai and Summer can make sure she reaches adulthood and we can bring her home then,” she reasoned. She raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not planning on staying without me, are you?” She laughed mockingly.

Qrow glared at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Raven scoffed. “Your semblance makes you a walking curse, remember? You’re only useful to people because of my semblance.”

“Oz recruited both of us, not just you,” Qrow pointed out, slightly sullen.

“Ozpin recruited us for his little cult and just happened to pick someone who had a semblance that ensured we could easily escape with whatever we found out,” Raven snorted. “You were just a packaged deal, baby brother.” Her expression softened. “It’s better with the Tribe,” she said gently. “There, being their protection against huntsmen and Grimm will make you valuable enough to keep even with you semblance. And they need us. We need to go home.”

As she continued talking, Qrow shrank in on himself, vaguely processing her words and remembering all the times his teammates had twisted an ankle or slipped on a loose rock. Summer had a scar on her left calf from a unlucky dodge when a Death Stalker tried to impale her. Tai had slipped and broken his favorite mug when the pipe under the sink had leaked. Dozens, hundreds of little accidents that happened because of him.

Raven had a point. With the tribe, he could stay away from camp and keep his semblance from hurting people. He wouldn’t be a danger to people. His hands tightened into fists, scrunching up the fabric of his pants.

A soft impact and a loud “BAH!” drew him out of his mind and he blinked at Yang, as she lifted the toy dog and waved it in his face, gurgling at him.

As Yang reached up and patted his face, Raven sliced open at portal. “C’mon,” she ordered over her shoulder.

“Ah-ga,” Yang burbled at Qrow as he lifted her up and clung to her, shaking as his eyes welled up.

“Qrow?” Raven tapped her foot impatiently, not bothering to turn to look at him.

It was clear that she had made her choice. That it had been made for a long time, if it had ever been considered a choice to her. And he was making his. And things won’t be the same.

Qrow kissed the top of Yangs head and stepped over the side of the playpen. He started towards the stairs. It was nearly nap time and Yang didn’t need to see her mother abandon her. “Have a nice life,” he said flatly, not looking at his sister. He didn’t see her head snap around to stare at him in shock and disbelief. He didn’t see her clench her fists. He didn’t her face twist into an expression of fury.

Qrow did feel the impact of her smashing into his back and fell. He barely managed to shield Yang and avoid landing on her.

Looking back, Qrow would have no idea how he got through that with Yang being completely untouched by the violence despite him holding her close and not having a chance to put her down.

He remembered Raven slashing at him with Omen. He remembered hurriedly moving Yang so her mother’s fist would hit his gut rather than her. He remember pulling a chunk of Raven’s hair out. He remember hitting her hard enough in the face to give her a black eye. He remembered his rings tearing at her skin and drawing blood. He remembered swearing at her, telling her that she was good at running away, that her whole semblance was about running from whatever scares her to someone who would make her feel better, that the tribe only valued her because she made running from trouble easy.

Qrow didn’t remember what ended the fight, what had Raven vanishing through her portal. He just remembered gasping, clutching Yang to him until she gave a whine and then took her upstairs to put her in her crib. Then he just sat with his back against the wall, hugging his knees as his eyes burned with tears.

Why didn’t Raven understand why he didn’t want to go back? She knew how they treated him, that they had fucking carved his back open, barely fed him, treated him like a thing. They hurt him, so why did she expect him to have any loyalty to them? To value them over the people who treated him like he matter, like he was an actual person? He choked back a sob.

He didn’t know how long it took for Tai and Summer to come back. Only Tai bursting into the room, panicked, probably because of the mess he and Raven made and Qrow telling him that Raven wasn’t coming back.

The look on Tai’s face was heartbreaking. Summer had choked back a sob but reorganized herself to check on Yang then tend to Qrow.

For a while, they kept a place for Raven, hoping she would come to her senses and come back. She didn’t. Tai and Summer focused on Yang, desperately nurturing the little girl and trying to drown out the pain of Raven leaving with love for the child she left behind.

Eventually, they decided to move to a different house and Summer fell pregnant. Another baby girl named Ruby, a precious little jewel.

Things seemed to be getting better.

Then Summer went on a mission and never came back. Tai broke and shut down. Qrow didn’t know what to do. He tried to coax Tai out of bed, into caring for the girls. Sometimes, Tai just didn’t respond. Sometimes he would just mumble nonsensically to himself. Sometimes, he would lash out at Qrow with poisonous words, blaming him. Sometimes he apologized, other times he didn’t.

Qrow felt like he was drowning. He had his missions for Oz. He had the girls to look after. He had Tai to watch out for. He had the survival courses he taught at Signal, that thankfully didn’t go all year, only for a few months. Qrow lived in constant fear that one day he would come back, whether it be a mission or just a run to the store to find the girls had stumbled across daddy hanging from the ceiling or something. 

Qrow felt like he was drowning and had no idea how to come up for air. He started drinking more. Alcohol made things numb, made it easier to ignore his own grief, to ignore how much Summer absence hurt, how much the things he had seen in Salem’s hideouts terrified and horrified him, how sometimes he found things on missions that made him feel sick and dirty just looking at it. It made it easy to ignore everything so he could focus on what he needed to do.

His heart broke when, instead of walking to mama or daddy, Ruby took her first steps in his direction. When Tai missed her first words, staring blankly out the window in one of his depressed episodes. Qrow had to hit his shoulder to get him to pay attention.

Then, one day, he came back. Tai was in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The girls...he couldn’t find Yang or Ruby.

A frantic search found a picture of Tai and a pregnant Raven, with “Tai and Raven, with baby Yang still to be born,” scrawled on the back in Yang's room, along with an old notebook listing their former address.

Qrow guessed that Yang had realized that Raven was her birth mother, that even without the writing on the back, the obvious resemblance wouldn’t be missed by the girl. She must have decided to go to their old house to see if Raven was there. And, with Tai being in his current state, took Ruby with her so she could take care of her sister. So she could be sure Ruby was fine. Yang was a good big sister. She had shown that over and over. She loved helping to take care of Ruby.

Qrow shifted and flew desperately, faster than he had known he could fly. And he still barely made it. The Ursa closest to Yang almost had it’s claws in the young blonde’s before Qrow cut it down. He didn’t know if Yang had noticed him arrive as a bird than shift. He wouldn’t hold it against her if she didn’t. He wasn’t hiding, he was out in the open but Yang was a little girl with a monster about to kill her. It would be normal for her to not notice.

Qrow didn’t remember what happened immediately afterwards, if he scolded Yang or just burst into tears of relief that they were fine, that he wasn’t too late. He knew he cried later, when then were home and he was in his room, just sobbing in gratitude that they were safe and absolute terror of what would have happened if he had been just a little bit later.

He took them home, got them settled. Then went to talk to Tai, because a line had to be drawn. Something needed to be done. Something needed to change.

Qrow gave Tai an ultimatum. Either he got help for his depression, so that he could be an actual father to the two little girls who loved him. Or Qrow would get Ozpin to pull some strings to get Yang and Ruby taken from the brawler.

Qrow figured he had permanently severed the relationship with his old partner. That Tai would never look at him the way he used to before everything went sour. But Yang and Ruby were more important. They needed their father. So Qrow didn’t feel like he had a choice.

The threat seemed to work.

Tai loved his daughters and the threat of losing them seemed to be the motivation he needed. Tai started getting better. He even started teaching Yang how to fight and got a job at Signal, as a full-time teacher, in contrast to Qrow’s part-time role.

Things were getting better as the girls grew.

Then Beacon fell.

And Qrow cursed his semblance, his existence and wished he didn’t hurt people just by being there.

**Author's Note:**

> Came up withe fic while exchanging comments with SykoShadowRose on a couple of their fics. Namely their Brand My Soul and Choose Your Bandwagon fics.


End file.
